Numbers 14
Deuteronomy 14 presents Israel as a people set apart to the LORD and then gives regulations concerning mourning practices, food, and tithes. The chapter shows that Israel’s holiness is not limited to formal worship, but extends into ordinary bodily, economic, and communal life.
1verseAll the congregation lifted up their voice, and cried; and the people wept that night.
2verseAll the children of Israel murmured against Moses and against Aaron. The whole congregation said to them, “We wish that we had died in the land of Egypt, or that we had died in this wilderness!
3verseWhy does the LORD bring us to this land, to fall by the sword? Our wives and our little ones will be captured or killed! Wouldn’t it be better for us to return into Egypt?”
4verseThey said to one another, “Let’s choose a leader, and let’s return into Egypt.”
5verseThen Moses and Aaron fell on their faces before all the assembly of the congregation of the children of Israel.
6verseJoshua the son of Nun and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, who were of those who spied out the land, tore their clothes.
7verseThey spoke to all the congregation of the children of Israel, saying, “The land, which we passed through to spy it out, is an exceedingly good land.
8verseIf the LORD delights in us, then he will bring us into this land, and give it to us: a land which flows with milk and honey.
9verseOnly don’t rebel against the LORD, neither fear the people of the land; for they are bread for us. Their defense is removed from over them, and the LORD is with us. Don’t fear them.”
10verseBut all the congregation threatened to stone them with stones. The LORD’s glory appeared in the Tent of Meeting to all the children of Israel.
11verseThe LORD said to Moses, “How long will this people despise me? How long will they not believe in me, for all the signs which I have worked among them?
12verseI will strike them with the pestilence, and disinherit them, and will make of you a nation greater and mightier than they.”
13verseMoses said to the LORD, “Then the Egyptians will hear it; for you brought up this people in your might from among them.
14verseThey will tell it to the inhabitants of this land. They have heard that you LORD are among this people; for you LORD are seen face to face, and your cloud stands over them, and you go before them, in a pillar of cloud by day, and in a pillar of fire by night.
15verseNow if you killed this people as one man, then the nations which have heard the fame of you will speak, saying,
16verse‘Because the LORD was not able to bring this people into the land which he swore to them, therefore he has slain them in the wilderness.’
17verseNow please let the power of the Lord be great, according as you have spoken, saying,
18verse‘The LORD is slow to anger, and abundant in loving kindness, forgiving iniquity and disobedience; and he will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on the third and on the fourth generation.’
19versePlease pardon the iniquity of this people according to the greatness of your loving kindness, and just as you have forgiven this people, from Egypt even until now.”
20verseThe LORD said, “I have pardoned according to your word;
21versebut in very deed—as I live, and as all the earth shall be filled with the LORD’s glory—
22versebecause all those men who have seen my glory and my signs, which I worked in Egypt and in the wilderness, yet have tempted me these ten times, and have not listened to my voice;
23versesurely they shall not see the land which I swore to their fathers, neither shall any of those who despised me see it.
24verseBut my servant Caleb, because he had another spirit with him, and has followed me fully, him I will bring into the land into which he went. His offspring shall possess it.
25verseSince the Amalekite and the Canaanite dwell in the valley, tomorrow turn and go into the wilderness by the way to the Red Sea.”
26verseThe LORD spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying,
27verse“How long shall I bear with this evil congregation that complain against me? I have heard the complaints of the children of Israel, which they complain against me.
28verseTell them, ‘As I live, says the LORD, surely as you have spoken in my ears, so I will do to you.
29verseYour dead bodies shall fall in this wilderness; and all who were counted of you, according to your whole number, from twenty years old and upward, who have complained against me,
30versesurely you shall not come into the land concerning which I swore that I would make you dwell therein, except Caleb the son of Jephunneh, and Joshua the son of Nun.
31verseBut I will bring in your little ones that you said should be captured or killed, and they shall know the land which you have rejected.
32verseBut as for you, your dead bodies shall fall in this wilderness.
33verseYour children shall be wanderers in the wilderness forty years, and shall bear your prostitution, until your dead bodies are consumed in the wilderness.
34verseAfter the number of the days in which you spied out the land, even forty days, for every day a year, you will bear your iniquities, even forty years, and you will know my alienation.’
35verseI, the LORD, have spoken. I will surely do this to all this evil congregation who are gathered together against me. In this wilderness they shall be consumed, and there they shall die.”
36verseThe men whom Moses sent to spy out the land, who returned and made all the congregation to murmur against him by bringing up an evil report against the land,
37verseeven those men who brought up an evil report of the land, died by the plague before the LORD.
38verseBut Joshua the son of Nun and Caleb the son of Jephunneh remained alive of those men who went to spy out the land.
39verseMoses told these words to all the children of Israel, and the people mourned greatly.
40verseThey rose up early in the morning and went up to the top of the mountain, saying, “Behold, we are here, and will go up to the place which the LORD has promised; for we have sinned.”
41verseMoses said, “Why now do you disobey the commandment of the LORD, since it shall not prosper?
42verseDon’t go up, for the LORD isn’t among you; that way you won’t be struck down before your enemies.
43verseFor there the Amalekite and the Canaanite are before you, and you will fall by the sword because you turned back from following the LORD; therefore the LORD will not be with you.”
44verseBut they presumed to go up to the top of the mountain. Nevertheless, the ark of the LORD’s covenant and Moses didn’t depart out of the camp.
45verseThen the Amalekites came down, and the Canaanites who lived in that mountain, and struck them and beat them down even to Hormah.
Verses 1–21: Food Regulations and Holy Identity
The food regulations distinguish animals that may be eaten from those that may not be eaten. Animals that chew the cud and have divided hooves are permitted, while animals such as the camel, hare, hyrax, and pig are not. Fish must have fins and scales, and various birds are listed as forbidden. The point is not only diet, but identity: Israel’s daily habits are to reflect that they belong to the LORD.
Verses 22–29: The Tithing Laws
The chapter also describes tithing from agricultural produce. The yearly tithe is associated with rejoicing before the LORD at the place He chooses, and if the distance is too great, it may be converted into money and then used there. Every third year, the tithe is stored locally for Levites, foreigners, orphans, and widows. Thus worship, gratitude, and social care are joined together.
Points for Reflection
- How does the chapter connect holiness with ordinary choices such as eating, spending, and sharing?
- What does it teach about joy before God and responsibility toward vulnerable members of the community?
- How can outward practices serve inward devotion rather than replace it?
Apply It to Yourself
- Review one ordinary area of life—food, money, possessions, or habits—and ask how it reflects your values before God.
- Consider a concrete way to share resources with people who lack support.
- Practice gratitude not only privately, but also in ways that strengthen community care.
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